Keeping Food Pictures Fresh — Images For Recipes And RestaurantsMichael Ray, a professional food photographer, makes an important point on his site, FoodPortfolio. Talking about the needs of buyers of food photos, he notes that “[O]ne of the most common mistakes a newbie food marketer makes is not planning ahead for multiple uses of their food photography.”
That’s a great point. It’s also great news for photographers.
If buyers of food photos are only hiring professional photographers to take pictures to meet their immediate needs, it won’t be long before they’re heading back to the market. And after laying out a large sum for the first photo shoot, they’re likely to take shortcuts the second and third time around by using stock photos.
That gives you a lot of potential buyers for your food images.
But they have to be the right images, and that’s where things can get a little tricky. Restaurants are going to want pictures of their food not just any old food. The same is true of cookbooks and even magazines will want specific images that match their recipes.
A safe bet then might be to take images of staples such as rice, pasta, bread and cheeses. They might not be as exciting as an image of a complete meal complete with table setting but the market is likely to be bigger.
Once you’ve made those sales, the buyer will know where to turn for more specific future images.
Photo on Flickr by bricolage.108